Luke 10:1-12
1 Now after this the Lord appointed
seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place
where He Himself was going to come. 2 And
He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His
harvest. 3 “Go; behold, I send you out as
lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 “Carry no money belt, no bag, no
shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5 “Whatever
house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 “If
a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will
return to you. 7 “Stay in that house, eating and
drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not
keep moving from house to house. 8 “Whatever
city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 and
heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come
near to you.’ 10 “But whatever city you enter and
they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even
the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against
you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 “I
say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
This passage looks almost like an earlier passage we
studied, only there are a few details that are different. These small differences have been used by
some as arguments against the inspiration of Scriptures. However, the reason for these differences is
that Matthew and Luke are describing two similar events but different events. In Matthew Jesus just sent out the twelve but
now there are seventy being sent. We
would expect the instructions to be similar because the task at hand is
similar. This is likely the explanation
behind many of these types of differences found in the various Gospels. Jesus, more than likely, taught the same
basic truths on multiple occasions. The
messages would be similar, but not identical depending on the circumstances and
the truths Jesus wanted to emphasize at the time of each message. This particular mission was one to prepare the
way for His future visit to these locations.
THE PETITION FOR MISSIONARIES: The harvest of souls is
plentiful in that there are many people who have not heard the truth about
Jesus. However, there are very few
laborers ready to go out and tell others about Jesus so they can be saved from
sin. The first instruction that Jesus
gives these pairs of missionaries as He sends them out is to pray for
additional missionaries to go out and do the work of the ministry. There has always been a lake of people who
are willing, ready and able to go out and preach the Gospel. Many excuses are given, but the reality is
that many who claim to be followers of Christ are more concerned with their own
comfort than they are with the expansion of the kingdom of God. Today there are still entire nations that
have no access to the Gospel. We must
pray for God to raise up more missionaries and we need to be the answer to our
own prayers. Every believer is called by
God to dedicate all of their resources and themselves to the cause of advancing
the Gospel. This involvement will look
very different from one person to the next due to differing abilities and
opportunities; but the advance of the Gospel is to be all of our top priority.
THE PROVISION FOR MISSIONARIES: The proposition Jesus made
to His disciples does not sound very appealing.
If I am a sheep, the last place I would want to be sent is amongst the
wolves. However, it is important to
remember the parable Jesus gave where He informed the disciples that He was the
good Shepherd who would give His life for the sheep. Does the Lord send His children to dangerous
places so that the Gospel can be proclaimed in those nations? Yes! Have believers been killed for proclaiming
Christ in the nations? Yes! Is suffering
a part of the call to missions? Yes! Do
we face these hardships alone? NO!!! No
matter where the Lord may send us and how much danger we may face along the
way, we can be assured that the good Shepherd goes with us and will not let
anything happen to us that is not for His glory and our eternal good. Jesus also told the disciples not to worry
about taking money and supplies on this mission because He would use homes of
people along the way in each of these communities to host and feed them. Hospitality is one of the key ingredients for
the body of Christ to practice in order for the Gospel to be able to
advance. Partners are needed for meeting
the basic needs of missionaries so they can serve full time in advancing the
Gospel without having to be concerned about working to supply their basic
needs. This is a blessing for all those
concerned. God calls us to life our
lives in a way that will contribute to the advance of the Gospel. Some will be able to dedicate their talents
and lives to this, others will contribute financially or through opening their
homes. All can pray for the message of
the cross to be spread to all nations everywhere.
THE PROCLAMATION OF MISSIONARIES: These seventy
missionaries were told to do two things as they went from village to village. They were to heal the sick and to proclaim
that the kingdom of God had come near to them.
The Old Testament had connected the coming of Messiah and the healing of
the sick. The message that they were
proclaiming was that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The Jews were anxiously waiting for the
Messiah to come and establish His kingdom.
They were waiting for a political king who would set them free from
Roman oppression. Jesus had fulfilled
every prophecy and given every proof that He was the Messiah. However, the Jews continued to reject Him as
Messiah because He did not fit the image they had in their minds and especially
because He was so critical of the Jewish leadership and their hypocrisy. It is a very dangerous thing to get preconceived
ideas about what we think God is like.
God has revealed Himself in Scripture and we are responsible to study
the Scripture to understand who God is, what He is like and what His will is
for us to do. We are called to know God,
love God, love others and make God known to others. The mission of the seventy is not that
different from the mission to which we have been called. Jesus is the King and He will one day return
and His kingdom will be forever established.
Our job is to invite people from all nations to come and participate in
that glorious kingdom through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
APPLICATION: Prayer for the mission of God on this earth is
a priority for each of our lives that is too often neglected. We must regularly pray for the Lord to raise
up more missionaries to the nations and then be ready to be a part of how God
answers that prayer through our own lives and the lives of our children. As we go forward we can depend on the Lord to
provide our needs and we can be used of the Lord to provide for the needs of
others. All of us must be constantly
engaged in serving people who are hurting and letting people know that they can
be a part of the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
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